As it should be. It would be nice if more managers and businesses supported this sort of thinking. Executives and owners making big money generally wouldn't tolerate being spoken to and treated like many of their customer facing employees are every day- but they are more than happy to prostitute others out to anyone willing to patronize their business so long as it turns a profit for them.
The customer is not always right, and if you are a professional they are seldom right if at all because by definition a professional is someone who is a subject matter expert. The customer knows what they WANT and it is the job of the professional- yes, even a retail professional- to try and maximize their wants within the scope of their constraints and to have the knowledge to help the customer make that decision. The customer chooses and the rest is in the results.
When all is said and done a business is a business. If your business is in bulk volume- velocity, selling massive amounts of predetermined products offerings or designated service menus for high densities of quick work etc- you especially don’t NEED customers who are particularly problematic and either fail to understand what is being offered or disrupt the business model. People who cost me money are not customers. Customers make me money. You make me money by not causing problems or taking out your life’s frustrations or disappointments on my people. I would NEVER tolerate a contractor, a vendor, a partner, a colleague, or even a board member speaking to me or treating me the way I’ve seen people treated who work directly with the public. So why would I allow of even encourage customers to do that to my people? Take your attitude and your $20 or whatever in profit you do in business a month… and take that to the “other guys.”
Because that’s the thing- that’s the secret. When you refuse to do business with people who do not conduct their business with respect and decorum, trouble makers and ass holes- “Karens”? When you simply say “you can’t shop here or anywhere with our name…” not only does that tend to set an example most other customers will follow- but you send the worst people to your competitors. You let them choke on returns and unreasonable requests and demands for free shit and discounts. You take the money that you lose on that and the wasted labor and extra staffing etc. to deal with these people. You let their customer service lines jam up and their locations become disorganized messes. You make their offices or stores a place that everyone knows is where “the yelling “ and bad behavior happen.
You give them the worst customers and often that alone will cause money to hemorrhage, service to suffer, which can become a death spiral as money vanishes and costs are cut so service suffers more which causes more complaints and issues and fleeing customers and… repeat the cycle. And.. sadly… but somewhat necessarily… their employees and other customers suffer too. The environment can become overbearingly toxic. People say not to work there, the best talents and hardest workers leave. A place open to the public like retail- it starts to get a reputation as “that store” with customers. The one they try to avoid because it’s always so unpleasant, the service is so bad, and most trips turn in to a negative experience.
If you run your business well and you are patient- the other guys tend to dry up.
Then all their bad customers need a place to shop. And you refuse. You cherry pick the “best” of their Rolodex and Perhaps some can come to you on a “trial basis,” but you don’t tolerate any problems and if they don’t play nice, you send them packing and tell them once again that you don’t want their business. They can go find another supplier- probably one that is not to your caliber or is inconvenient or more costly to them. Tough shit. Depending on your industry and location you may be able to keep this up until you are the “only game in town.” Closing up or essentially black listing every major competitor. You can start taking on some more “problematic” customers who aren’t terrible offenders but aren’t great either- and charging them a premium and imposing other stipulations to protect your profits and service. Don’t like it? Go somewhere else. There is nowhere else? Oh. So sorry. Who’s fault is that? Think I want to end up like than by dealing with your shit? No.
Employees don’t have to be rude to customers and generally professionals should be rude- though we are all human and deserve some grace here and there. That said- allow your employees to stick up for themselves. Set established rules of how you expect them to be treated. Support them from the top levels of management down to the lowest supervisor or lead. The trend in direct to consumer business is to call the client a “guest.” Well… your employees are your “team” or your “family” and your location is your home location for your job. If a guest comes in to my house and makes a mess, yells at my “family” or “team,” or is generally a nuisance- wouldn’t I correct them? Wouldn’t I support a team or family member who refused to be disrespected or insulted in their home?
If you work for the customer you are an independent contractor or you are self employed. If you are at a company you work for the company, not the customer. Want proof? Ok. Try this- your company orders you to charge money for goods or services and the customer orders you to give them anything they want for free. Who do you listen to…? That’s right. The company. The customers love you but you don’t actually help make money, you cost more than you bring in- think the company will keep you just because you’re liked by customers? Generally not unless you attract or retain enough business by being liked in order to make profit. So- no. You don’t work for the customer. Your company likely exists to serve customers. ALL customers.
If a customer says they want to buy the only register terminal in the store for $200 more than it is worth- do you do it? Probably not, because you’ll make that one customer happy but… what about every other customer who would come in between now and when you can get a new register? They probably won’t be happy when they are told that they can’t buy anything because there is no way to ring them up. Serving the customer is more than just making one person or even every person that come through the door “happy.” Any business that deserves to exist fills a need. If you are good at what you do and your company is good at what it does then you are good at delivering on a promise to fill whatever need your customer has. If your business model is to fill the need of miserable and sadistic people to abuse others who can’t fight back and that is what your employees were told the job was about- that it what it is. Don’t call someone a professional or expect them to be a professional in any other
field if you will not treat them as a professional. There has been an erosion of professionalism and I don’t blame low wage workers as the chief cause because not only are the wages low- often too low to get by on, but their own companies don’t respect their positions or importance and treat them as disposable and interchangeable, they even intentionally structure their operations and tools around the concept of not needing a skilled or dedicated person. Often these companies also hire more senior positions from outside talent instead of fostering and recognizing internal candidates who have “worked up” and know the business from its fundamental base and have the chance to use that knowledge as they advance to offer better management and insight.
When you combine all these things along with the acceptance or even tacit encouragement or setting the conditions to allow employee harassment and belittlement and erode job satisfaction- you create an environment that doesn’t tend to attract and grow skilled professionals. When your management is just whoring out for money- that is the experience and clientele you get- people who are just there because it’s the cheapest game in town.
The customer is not always right, and if you are a professional they are seldom right if at all because by definition a professional is someone who is a subject matter expert. The customer knows what they WANT and it is the job of the professional- yes, even a retail professional- to try and maximize their wants within the scope of their constraints and to have the knowledge to help the customer make that decision. The customer chooses and the rest is in the results.
If you run your business well and you are patient- the other guys tend to dry up.